Sam Kerr’s lack of contrition is a glaring own goal for fading Matildas
Football Australia finds itself in the middle of a public relations disaster of its own doing. The backlash to Kerr being handed the Matildas captaincy in her second match back from a 20-month layoff from a serious knee injury has been fierce.
She may have been found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment earlier this year after a drunken night out in London in 2023, but her actions that night – “spit vomiting” in a cab, kicking in a window, calling a police officer “f..king stupid and white” and generally swearing like a bricklayer – remain firmly in the minds of many Australians.
This episode would have been largely forgotten if Kerr had shown a skerrick of remorse, instead of the ongoing suggestion from coach Joe Montemurro and her teammates that we’re the ones who should build a sizeable bridge and get over it.
“She’s a leader,” Caitlin Foord said in a snappy exchange with reporters after the Matildas’ 3-0 loss to England on Wednesday morning (AEDT) in Derby. “If Australia is watching football, it’s pretty clear what she brings. And the real football fans would be able to see that. For us, internally, we know what that’s about.”
If there was ever a statement that highlights the insularity that holds back football in this country, this is it. There aren’t enough “real” football fans to pay the bills. New fans do. Football has a unique way of turning them away, just when they’re starting to buy in.
Much of the goodwill has faded for those curious fans who fell in love with our national women’s team during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
An average of 7.13 million people tuned into the Matildas’ World Cup semi-final loss to England – the most watched program since the OzTAM ratings system was introduced in 2001.
How many of those newly acquired fans of women’s football have since turned their back on the Matildas, tired of the way FA mollycoddles Kerr and her teammates despite them winning precious little since that tournament?
This is where Smith comes in. He’s living, breathing, crease-shuffling proof that Australians will forgive and forget as long as you admit you’ve made a mistake.
The manufactured outrage in response to the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands in 2018 meant those involved were going to pay a heavy price when they returned to Australia. Most wanted Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned from representing their country again.
Smith and Warner were handed 12-month suspensions while Bancroft received nine, but they were minor details. What really mattered, in the court of public opinion, was how they responded. Were they genuinely sorry for the damage done, or just sorry they were caught out?
When Smith fronted a bloodthirsty media pack at Sydney Airport, we knew from the moment he plopped down in front of the microphones this was a man who knew he’d made a grave mistake.
He apologised and took full responsibility, even deflecting criticism from Warner because the cheating had happened on his watch.
Smith was the captain; he should’ve known better.
“I want to say I’m sorry and the pain I’ve brought to Australia and the fans and the public, it’s devastating and I’m truly sorry,” Smith said before breaking down in tears.
Some cricket followers will never forgive Smith and aren’t comfortable with him again captaining his country. Their choice. But most have moved on, largely because of his genuine contrition.
When he returned from his suspension, he resumed his duties as a compelling gatherer of runs. He’s filled in for Pat Cummins as captain several times and will do so again for the Ashes opener in Perth later this month.
While Kerr’s misdemeanours can’t be compared with that of Smith, her inability to show any remorse, along with FA’s complicity, has allowed the issue to fester. A scandal doesn’t go away by ignoring it. Kerr never informed FA about the police charges, something that would attract a suspension in other codes. She hasn’t been fined, nor sat out matches. Yes, her ACL injury complicated the matter but that doesn’t stop her from taking ownership of her actions, as Smith did.
If anything, FA has positioned her as the victim, seemingly oblivious to the police bodycam footage in which she effectively said to authorities, “Don’t you know who I am?”
For her return match against Wales last week, reporters were forbidden from asking questions about the incident. Relative straightforward questions from News Corp journalists on the ground were edited out of the video link sent out as part of FA’s media release.
Then, after one game back, Montemurro handed her the captain’s armband for the match against England, which was supposed to tell us where the Matildas were placed four months out from Australia hosting the Asian Cup.
A red card to veteran Alanna Kennedy inside the first 20 minutes makes it difficult to gauge, but let’s get real about this team’s standing: it’s ranked 15th in the world and incapable of challenging the stronger nations.
Which makes the sense of entitlement pervading this Matildas team hard to understand.
Maybe the real football fans can explain it to us.
Tragedy strikes again
There’s never been a tougher time in Australian sport than the death of Phillip Hughes in 2014.
The shock of the incident, the hopelessness of his death, the sadness of the funeral in his hometown of Macksville … all those memories came flooding back this week with the tragic death of 17-year-old Ben Austin, who was struck on the neck in the nets preparing for a match for his club, Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne’s outer east.
Such is their class, the Hughes family quickly released a statement of support, while Phillip’s great mate, former Test captain Michael Clarke, also reached out to the Austin family.
Hughes’ death then made about as much sense as Austin’s does now, and while this isn’t the time for blame, expect tighter restrictions around mandatory neck guards.
The NSW Coroner’s inquest in October 2016 into Hughes’ death was brutal for his family. On the final day of submissions, they stormed out of the court at the Downing Centre in Sydney.
One of the key recommendations from coroner Michael Barnes came at the request of the Hughes clan, who wanted cricket laws changed so batters couldn’t be given out if their StemGuard clip-on protectors fell off and struck the bails during play. They didn’t want players discouraged from wearing them.
Professional players are required to wear the guards, but juniors are not. Austin wasn’t wearing one when he was struck in the nets.
Cricket Australia is already talking about a significant rule change but is focused, for now, on supporting Austin’s family and his club.
Code of silence
The revolution is here! Maybe it’s here. We’ll let you know when it is here.
Melbourne Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen has walked away from the final year of his NRL contract to “take a break away from the game to consider his future”.
Translation: get ready for the inaugural season of R360. He looms as the rebel rugby competition’s first signing.
Players don’t generally turn their backs on $1m unless they’ve got another gig lined up. Papenhuyzen, 27, has been talking with R360 types since July and is reportedly looking at about $1.5m a season tax-free if he joins.
It’s just the start of raids on the NRL and Australian rugby, but as we’ve said in this space before, let R360 and its private equity backers do their best. Money can’t buy what both codes have to offer.
About the only NRL player not linked to R360 is Brisbane Broncos captain Adam Reynolds, who shares the same management as Papenhuyzen: Clinton Schifcofske and Steve “Chimes” Gillis, a former tabloid reporter who, interestingly, in the 1990s became a player manager during that other revolution called Super League.
Several of their clients, including Parramatta’s Zac Lomax, have already been linked to R360.
Reynolds should seriously consider having a tilt at the NFL as a punter when he retires. He loves the game and can kick the ball for days. He’s jokingly said before he’d prefer to play American football than playing in England.
In the meantime, he’s written a book – On My Own Terms: From Redfern to Glory – which was released this week.
It’s a page-turner, which surprises because he has been so guarded throughout his 309-game career and had little to say.
Reynolds reveals that rival fans racially abuse him when lining up kicks at goal. He grew up in housing commission in the inner-city Sydney suburb alongside Indigenous families and married an Indigenous woman. He is regularly mistaken as Indigenous because of his dark skin – but he’s not.
“We live in an age where racism is simply not accepted in society, yet you still hear it from the stands at NRL games,” Reynolds writes. “I have been called all sorts of names myself, including ‘black c..t’ and ‘monkey’ when trying to line up a goal kick from the sideline, even though I’m not Indigenous. But that doesn’t stop the odd idiot shooting their mouth off.”
Music to Jones’ ears
Rugby league’s reputation as an international game of mystery has no bounds, with ARL Commissioner Kate Jones wanting to take matches to Nashville.
Jones, a former Queensland tourism minister, has expressed this view several times to various stakeholders, so it was no surprise the city was tossed up as a potential destination for Peter V’landys’ Global Round – a wacky proposal to start the entire 2027 NRL season overseas.
“Who knew there was such an untapped reservoir of rugby league fans in the country music capital of the world?” one club boss mused.
Jones, who joined the commission in November 2020, was once considered a successor to V’landys as chair but now appears to be on the outer. She had no comment when contacted.
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